Cuba's Raul Castro meets with U.S. congressional delegation

February 19, 2013|Reuters

* Castro and U.S. lawmakers discuss stalled relations

* Fate of jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross on the table

By By Marc Frank

HAVANA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A seven-member U.S. congressionaldelegation met on Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro,official media reported, to improve relations that have beenstrained since U.S. government contractor Alan Gross wasimprisoned there in 2009.

Members of the group, which arrived on Monday, also met withGross, said a delegation member who asked not to be identified.

A statement issued by the Cuban government on Tuesday saidCastro and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met first withDemocratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to discuss "issuesof interest for both countries," then held talks with otherlawmakers.

Leahy met with Castro, Rodriguez and Gross last year.

The senator, who spoke with reporters on Monday, said Gross's fate and reforms under way in Cuba would top the group'sagenda.

The Cuban statement, released Tuesday with video of themeeting, said the U.S. delegation also held meetings withparliament president Ricardo Alarcon and Rodriguez.

Leahy was expected to issue a statement on Wednesday.

Other members of the delegation included Republican SenatorJeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow ofMichigan, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Sheldon Whitehouse of RhodeIsland, Democratic Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusettsand Representative Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who representsGross' district in Maryland.

Gross, 63, was arrested in Havana in December 2009 andsentenced to 15 years in prison for installing Internet networksunder a secretive U.S. program the Cuban government considerssubversive.

The case halted a brief detente in long-hostile U.S.-Cubarelations.

Cuba has linked Gross' fate to that of five agentsimprisoned in the late 1990s for infiltrating Miami exileorganizations and U.S. military bases.

The agents, known as the Cuban Five, were sentenced to longterms, ranging from 15 years to life, and are considered heroesin Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, when he was a senatorfrom Massachusetts, met with Rodriguez in New York in 2010 todiscuss the Gross case, according to Foreign Affairs magazine.Former President Jimmy Carter also met with Raul Castro inHavana in 2011.

The Obama administration has said relations will not improvewhile Gross remains in custody. Under the 1996 'Helms-Burton'law, U.S. sanctions cannot be lifted until Cuba's one-partyCommunist political system is changed, a demand rejected by theCuban government.